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Thursday, October 01, 2009

New DreamWorks Holiday Specials

Ya know, I don't want to rag on DreamWorks Animation a lot, but if there's one thing that I've done that I truly hate, it's how they've turned animated films into over-exposed franchises. I mean, do we really need four Shrek films? However, they do occasionally do some good work, and that needs to be acknowledged, but they are once again trying to create franchises out of stuff that doesn't look franchise-ready.

As part of their expanding franchises, they're really starting to tackle the old realm of the holiday special. Based on the success of their Shrek Christmas special, Shrek the Halls, it was just announced that, this year, we're getting a Monsters vs. Aliens Halloween special and a Madagascar Christmas special.

So, Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space will be airing on October 28. Taking place after the first film, those dasterdly aliens try to invade once again using mutant pumpkins, and so it's up to the monsters to repel the alien invaders. It reunites the entire voice cast from the movie, including Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogan, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnet, and Keifer Sutherland.

Merry Madagascar takes place between the first and second films. When Santa Claus crash-lands on Madagascar, the animals figure they can use Santa's sleigh to get themselves back to New York City. But, Santa's got amnesia, so the animals decide to finish his run, get caught up in the spirit of giving, and yes, they save Christmas. Also, we learn that those famous Madagascar penguins don't get along too well with Santa's reindeer. The logic? The North Pole and the South Pole have kind of a Calgary/Edmonton thing going on. Once again, the entire voice cast from the film is back, including Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, and David Schwimmer. That hits the airwaves on November 17.

And doing the Wikipedia links for this article, I see that DreamWorks is also working on a Shrek Halloween special, a Kung Fu Panda Christmas special, and a Bee Movie Halloween Special.